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334 Chapter 10 Natal Afrikaner Women and The University of Pretoria etd – Wassermann, J M (2005) 334 CHAPTER 10 NATAL AFRIKANER WOMEN AND THE ANGLO-BOER WAR The role and plight of the Republican Afrikaner women have always formed an integral, and sometimes even central part of the historiography of the Anglo-Boer War. The emphasis in the large number of academic and popular works and published memoirs invariably falls on the suffering of Afrikaner women and children in the concentration camps. Despite this volume of work, Helen Bradford1 maintains that one of the seminal questions faced by the historiography of the Anglo-Boer War is the neglect of the unique war experiences of women. One group previously neglected was Natal Afrikaner women who formed a stratified and diverse group. Some, like MJ Zietsman of Snelster near Estcourt, whose daughter, the widow Wallace had been to England and who kept thoroughbred Pointers, were wealthy and sophisticated.2 Another, like ME Kock, read Tennyson and Shakespeare,3 while Emily Pieters owned 20 bound music books for playing the piano and harmonium.4 On the other end of the social scale were women like Annie Katrina Slabbert of Dundee who sewed and took in laundry to survive.5 These class differences were underpinned by the patriarchal system in which the women functioned. Married women had the least power and received little support or recognition from the authorities. In contrast widows wielded much more economic and political power and were also able to generate letters and other documents.6 However, regardless of their educational, social, economic or marital status, most Natal Afrikaner women suffered, in one way or another, during the war. 10.1 Military related involvement in the Anglo-Boer War by Natal Afrikaner women One of the lasting controversies surrounding the Anglo-Boer War relates to the military role played by Boer women in the conflict. Historian Fransjohan Pretorius managed to demythologise claims by American journalist Howard C Hillegas and other authors that Ascores of Boer women@ fought on the side of the commandos.7A photograph of 15 women and seven children, dressed up in their Sunday best, posing with rifles and bandoliers in front of the Newcastle Town Hall, links Natal Afrikaner women to this myth. This photograph appears in A few months with the Boers by Sophia Izedinova with a caption stating that these women from Newcastle, thus Natal Afrikaner women, took up 1. H Bradford, Gentleman and Boers. Afrikaner Nationalism, Gender, and Colonial Warfare in the South African War, in G Cuthbertson, A Grundlingh, and M-L Suttie (eds)., Writing a wider war. Rethinking gender, race, and identity in the South African War, 1899-1902, pp.37-67. 2. PAR, CSO 2911: Invasion Losses Enquiry Commission: Claim by MP Wallace, 6.4.1900. 3. PAR, CSO 2888: Invasion Losses Enquiry Commission: Claim by ME Kock, 24.10.1902. 4. PAR, CSO 2899: Invasion Losses Enquiry Commission: Claim by E Pieters, 18.4.1901. 5. PAR, CSO 2905: Invasion Losses Enquiry Commission: Claim by AK Slabbert, 6.12.1900. 6. The experiences of Natal Afrikaner women in the concentration camp system were dealt with in Chapter 9. 7. F Pretorius, Kommandolewe tydens die Anglo-Boereoorlog 1899-1902, pp.347-350; P Marais, Die vrou in die Anglo- Boereoorlog 1899-1902, pp.162-167, is generally a summary of the work done by Pretorius. University of Pretoria etd – Wassermann, J M (2005) 335 arms.8 The original photograph, titled ADutch Amazons at Newcastle Natal@ was taken by RE Gell on 16 December 1899,9 possibly during commemorations of Dingaan=s Day. This would serve to explain the elaborate dress and posed nature of the photograph.10 In fact it must have been a festive weekend in Newcastle since President Paul Kruger had declared Sunday 17 December 1899 a day of thanksgiving for the Boer victories at Stormberg, Colenso and Magersfontein. The main religious service in Newcastle was conducted by Reverend Prozesky who preached from Exodus 15: 9-13, with the key text being: AIt is God who humbles the proud.@11 How then did Natal Afrikaner women really feel about the war? During the visit of General Piet Joubert to Helpmekaar on 13 December 1899, the 22 Natal Afrikaner women listed in Table 10.1 presented the following address to him: Highly respected General, on this occasion of your visit to the laager of the Natal Burghers here, we, the undersigned, female members of the families of these burghers, heartily welcome your Honour to Helpmakaar. We gloty (sic) in your material genius again proved in this war and heartily congratulate you on the brilliant victories gained by our people under your direction and with the arms blessed by the Almighty. We pray God=s blessing to continue with us and that He may continue to grant you the wisdom and strength to bring under His higher assistance this difficult war to a prosperous conclusion, and that you may be in a position to speedily return to your home as victor, covered with the thanks of the whole Africander people, and we hope that then also will be fulfilled the desire of all true Africanders, namely unison of the different states of South Africa into a united South Africa under the Boer flag, so that the ground shamefully robbed from our ancestors shall once more belong to the Africanders. This your obedient servants hope, pray and beseech.12 The address, carelessly left behind by the retreating Boer forces, was discovered by the British military in Pretoria. The Natal authorities, and especially Charles and Frank Tatham, made much of the document especially the part they had underlined and which they regarded as conclusive proof that a conspiracy existed to oust the British from South Africa and that the Transvaal Government Aacquiesced in the sentiment expressed.@ Table 10. 1: List of Natal Afrikaner women who signed the address of welcome to 8. S Izedinova, A few months with the Boers, p.186. 9. PAR, C 1482: Photograph of Afrikaner women taken in front of the Newcastle Town Hall, by RE Gell, 16.12.1899. 10. The women in question were not the only Natalians who had their picture taken in front of the Newcastle Town Hall at the time. GH Shorter who were commandeered by the Boers also posed armed in front of the town hall. PAR, AGO I/7/5: Regina vs GH Shorter, pp.121-124; Natal Witness, 2.11.1900. 11. OE Prozesky private collection, Diary of JJA Prozesky: Diary entry, 17.12.1899, p.107. 12. PRO, CO 179/213: Address of welcome to Commandant-General PJ Joubert as well as related correspondence, 23.9.1900-25.9.1900. University of Pretoria etd – Wassermann, J M (2005) 336 Commandant-General PJ Joubert on 13 February 190013 DA Kemp S Kemp CF Vermaak H Nel A Vermaak AM de Villiers VA Vermaak M Venter M Mcw Meyer DA de Villiers CG Vermaak J Labuschagne M Maher SM de Villiers E Hambridge J Dekker SJ Potgieter JM de Villiers MM Badenhorst A Webb DA de Villiers BJJ Laatz In reality the Tathams were reading far too much into the document and were confusing sympathy for the plight of the Republics with military support. Of the 22 women who signed the document the Vermaaks, Hambridges and Kemps were related, while Mrs Webb=s husband was a sharecropper working for the Vermaaks. In all likelihood the five De Villiers women were also related to each other, meaning that the petition came from a few extended families of Atrue Africanders@ and not from Natal Afrikaners at large. Sixty two men signed a similar petition. This was 34 signatures less than the number of Natal Afrikaner men who petitioned the ZAR authorities about concerns they had serving in the Republican forces.14 It would therefore be true to say that the vast majority of Natal Afrikaner women shared the sentiments of their menfolk about direct physical involvement in the war and were as reluctant in supporting the Republican war effort as their sons, fathers and husbands. Substantial proof exists to support this reluctance.15 The Boers commandeered the youngest son of Mrs ME de Waal of Carolina, Dundee, in November 1899 against his and her will. Three weeks later she wrote to him asking him to come home. Only Aafter considerable trouble@ did he manage to get an order from Louis Botha which gave him permission to return to his mother. Young De Waal handed back his rifle and despite being commandeered on six subsequent occasions, refused to go.16 Similarly the sister of the loyal Strydom brothers, Johanna de Jager who was married to Fritz de Jager, stated that she had tried to convince her husband not to join the Boers. He did not listen to her or her brothers.17 Also a young Afrikaner of Weenen only identified by his Zulu name, Bensela, wanted to join the Boers but his 13. PRO, CO 179/213: Address of welcome to Commandant-General PJ Joubert as well as related correspondence, 23.9.1900-25.9.1900. 14. NAR, KG 819: Letter to General JJ Ferreira signed by 96 Natal Afrikaners, 8.1.1900. 15. For a comprehensive account of Afrikaner women in a later rebellion, that of 1914, see: SS Swart, The rebels of 1914: Masculinity, republicanism and the social forces that shaped the Boer Rebellion, August 1997, MA-thesis, UND, pp.130-143. 16. PAR, CSO 2874: Invasion Losses Enquiry Commission: Claim by ME de Waal, 27.2.1902. 17. PAR, AGO I/8/74: Correspondence regarding the looting of property belonging to J de Jager, 4.10.1899-5.1.1901.
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